Subtle Surprises
by eliana-moran
Summary: Ginny is sent to stay with an American penpal for the summer for safety. When she spots a platinum blonde, how will her life change? not as fluffy as Relaxation, but mostly just good fun with very little angst.
1. Sighting

A slender red-head stepped off the plane, hoisting the strap of her messenger bag higher onto her shoulder. She shook her waist-length hair out of the way as she slung her bag behind her and transferred her khaki jacket from one arm to the other. She was wearing a white t-shirt with red lettering that said "by reading this you've given me temporary control of your mind" and a comfortably tight pair of blue jeans with quite a few frayed holes in them.

Ginevra Weasley was spending the summer with her American pen-pal. This wasn't the first time they would meet; Sarah Jones had visited England a year before and spent a week at the Burrow. It was, however, the first time Ginny would be meeting any of the rest of the Jones'.

After draping her jacket over the bag, Ginny began to make her way toward the baggage claim area which was where she was supposed to meet Sarah. She was barely through customs, however, when Sarah ran up to her and nearly knocked her over with a hug.

"I'm soooo glad you here!" Sarah was jumping up and down. She was barely shorter than Ginny and had brown hair to her shoulders. "We're going to have so much fun!"

"Yeah, I'm sure we will." Ginny tried to sound convinced. It wasn't that she didn't _expect_ to have fun; it was just that she would rather have stayed home this particular summer.

Sarah sighed, knowing what was on her friends mind. "I'm sure everything will be all right."

"Yeah, I know. It's just, well, I don't know." Ginny shrugged and started walking toward the baggage claim.

"Sure you do. We've been following your news over here, you know, and between that and your letters... It sounds like it's getting serious, not really the time I'd want to leave home either." Sarah really did understand.

"Not me." A tall young man with dark hair and eyes approached them with a cart for when they collected the rest of Ginny's bags. "It's precisely the time I'd want to high tail it out of there." His tone was light and playful.

"It is not!" Sarah declared, "You would be beggin' Dad to let you join whatever resistance was mounting, chomping at the bit to _do_ something!"

He rolled his eyes, "Well, probably, but on the way over here I asked you whether you were going to try to cheer her up or help her bitch. You said _you_ were going to help her bitch but _I_ should try to cheer her up."

"Oh, well, I just didn't want her to think you were a coward." Sarah pushed past him to watch the luggage carousel. "What color bags do you have?"

"Green with yellow bandanas tied to the handles." Ginny answered, also moving so she could see the finally appearing suitcases. "So you _are_ one of her brothers then?" She tossed the question back over her shoulder to the young man.

"Oh, yeah, sorry. I'm Micah and it's nice to finally meet you." He was leaning against the cart behind the girls.

"Micah, eh? Not sure your earlier statement would have any bearing at all on whether or not I think you're a coward. OH! There's the big one." She pointed to a very slowly advancing bag.

"I'm not sure what that means." Micah went to meet the bag before it could reach the girls and carried it back to the cart.

"And I think I'd prefer it if _Sarah_ cheer me up and _Micah_ helps me bitch." Ginny continued like he hadn't said anything.

"Okay! I'm not sure how, but I think I've just been insulted _twice_," Micah chuckled.

"Not at all. Hey!" Ginny turned and grabbed after her smaller bag that had been hidden underneath someone else's and had already passed them. After struggling with it for a moment, and finally pulling it off with Micah's help, she put it on the cart with the other one. "That's it."

"You're here for six weeks and that's all you brought?" Sarah surveyed the suitcases on the cart.

"Yep."

"Well, then let's head out of here." Micah began to swing the cart around.

"Hey, I gotta run to the girl's room before we go." Sarah dashed off without waiting to make sure she was heard.

"We'll be on the benches by the door!" Micah called after her, hoping she heard him over the din of the busy airport. "So, what _did_ you mean, then?" He asked Ginny after they had sat down.

"Oh," she laughed nervously. "It's just that you're the one that reads all of my letters to Sarah, before she does if possible, so you can't be _too_ cowardly."

He laughed, "She's not too dangerous, if you know where to tickle her."

Ginny smiled and continued, "but you refuse to write me yourself or even slip a note in one of her letters so..." she let her words trail off.

"Hey now! I just didn't know how _your_ brothers would react to you picking up a correspondence with some guy you've never even met, and if I put anything in Sarah's letters she'd read it." He leaned back in his chair and stretched out his legs.

"So it's okay for you to read _her_ letters, but she can't read yours?"

"Exactly!"

Ginny laughed and rolled her eyes.

"And the other comment?" he prompted her.

"Sarah is hopelessly optimistic and therefore not very good at bitching. When something _does_ get to her, at least as seen in her letters, she just pouts, and maybe whines a little. I'm not much for whining, _criticizing_, on the other hand, is _entirely _different." She laughed at herself.

"Ah, your observation holds true to life as well as letters, as to Sarah, I mean. And I entirely see your point about criticizing, as well, there's some satisfaction involved when discovering and illuminating the faults of whatever or whoever is plaguing your life at the moment. Whining is just whining." He smiled at her.

She smiled back, "Exactly."

"Okay! Let's go!" Sarah had returned from the bathroom and led the way to Micah's car.

"Wake UP!" Sarah's voice finally broke through Ginny's slumber and brought her to consciousness.

"Ugh," Ginny groaned and rolled over, "morning people should be shot!"

"Come on! It's your first day in America, let's go shopping!" Sarah plopped down heavily on the bed.

"Shopping? For what?" Ginny groggily sat up.

"Clothes of course. How many muggle outfits do you have?"

"Uh, counting the one I wore on the plane?" Sarah nodded to Ginny's question. "One." Ginny grabbed for the brush on the nightstand and began brushing her hair.

"Well, you'll need more than that. The nearest wizarding town, or even district, is so far by floo it'll give you a headache for a week. We spend most of our time hanging out in the muggle city and you'll need to fit in."

"Yeah, you told me all of that, remember? I brought enough money for a couple outfits, I think." Ginny finally got up and walked over toward her suitcase.

"Oh, don't worry about that." Micah called from the door.

"Don't you ever knock!" Sarah screamed at her brother.

"No. Anyway, you're here on our invitation and it is our plans for you that require new clothing so we will provide it. You will get two pairs of pants, two pairs of shorts, one skirt, seven shirts, and two outfits for clubbing. Beyond that you can share with Sarah here, she's got enough clothes to go a year without repeating an outfit." He ducked as Sarah threw a pillow at his head.

Ginny stood up and looked back and forth between them. "You...you don't have to do that..."

"We know!" Sarah hugged her friend quickly, "but it's fun!"

Micah tossed the pillow back to Ginny with a laugh, "See you at breakfast."

"So I take it he'll be hanging out with us?" Ginny asked after he had gone. She didn't mind; she was just surprised.

"Yeah, well, he's got a car and I don't. Besides, he's got nothing better to do. The place he used to work at during the summers closed and since this is his last summer before college, Dad told him to just take it off and not worry about finding another one." Sarah was rummaging through her closet as she spoke and tossed a shirt and pair of shorts at Ginny.

Ginny looked at the clothes that landed in her lap. It was a pair of khaki shorts and a blue t-shirt Rainbow Brite on it. She held up the shirt questioningly.

"It's a cartoon from when we were kids. Muggle thing."

Ginny nodded without any real understanding.

"We have so got to teach you about TV while you're here." Sarah began getting dressed herself and Ginny followed suit.

When they were dressed, they head downstairs, and Ginny was in the middle of pulling her hair up into a messy bun when they entered the kitchen.

"Mom's already out this morning and Dad's on a business trip again. You won't really see much of them while you're here. You might meet Mom Sunday, and maybe Dad next Tuesday when he gets back in town." Micah was sitting at the table reading the paper and eating a bowl of cereal. When he finished talking, or reading the column he was on, he looked up and his spoon stopped halfway to his mouth as he smiled. "You look nice."

"Um, thanks." Ginny moved to sit down. "I really won't meet your mum until Sunday? It's only Tuesday today."

"Yeah," Sarah was making toast behind her, so Ginny turned to look at her as she spoke, "she leaves early, we'll get back late, not unusual. Here."

Ginny took the offered plate of toast and turned back to the table. She didn't know what to say so she just reached for a bowl, spoon, and the cereal and started her breakfast.

Ginny was perusing a rack of shirts while Micah examined a display of jewelry. She looked up when he asked her, "So, what do you think so far?"

"I'm not really sure what to think. I've never been anywhere like this. It's called a Mall, right?" Micah nodded. "Why?"

"I have no idea. Here, try these." He handed a pair of hoop earrings.

She held them up by her ears. "What do you think?"

"Very nice." He smiled again. He suddenly turned around and sighed, "What is taking her so long?" Looking toward the dressing rooms, he called, "Hey Sarah! You almost done?"

Ginny laughed when Micah grumbled at his sister's mumbled response.

"I thought we came shopping for you." He sighed. "This is what we get for letting her anywhere near a store. She'll get as much as you, today, just you watch, probably more."

Sure enough, when Sarah came out she was carrying a pile of clothes she intended to purchase and placed them on top of the small stack they had found to Ginny's taste at the store.

After they had paid for the clothes and the hoop earrings, they decided it was time for a lunch break. It had been their fourth store at the mall and they were all a bit hungry.

On their way out of the food court, Ginny stopped dead, causing Sarah to run into her. "Hey, what's up?" Sarah asked.

"Just a second." Ginny said hurriedly and began practically running toward the main hall. Before she could get out of the food court, however, a large group of people entered and she was almost knocked down as she pushed her way through.

When Micah and Sarah caught up with her she was standing in the center of the walkway looking toward the center of the mall. "Hey, what's up?" Micah laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Nothing, I just though...I just thought I saw someone familiar, that's all. But that's impossible. Forget it." Ginny tried to laugh it off as she turned around to face her friends.

"If you say so." Micah looked concerned, but Sarah just laughed and grabbed her arm, pulling off toward the next store.


	2. Civility

After a long day of shopping, Sarah decided the only proper way to unwind was to go clubbing. Ginny and Micah exchanged an amused look before laughing.

Ginny changed into one of the outfits they had bought her that day. It included a black leather skirt that reached halfway down her thighs and a sleeveless, forest green, velveteen shirt that showed off her curves nicely. She put her hair halfway up and wore the hoop earrings Micah had picked out and a pair of strappy sandals of Sarah's. Sarah wore a denim mini skirt with frayed hem and a sparkly silver halter top.

When they went downstairs, Micah was waiting for them in a black button up shirt and distressed jeans. The top two buttons of his shirt were undone and it was untucked. With his hands in his pockets and his hair hanging before his eyes, he was dead sexy. His crooked smile when he saw the girls only added to the look.

Sarah briefly entertained the thought of playing matchmaker and setting her best friend up with her brother, but decided to see how they acted that night before making any decisions. She smiled when Micah put his hand on the small of Ginny's back to guide her into the car after opening the door for her. Micah saw the smile and rolled his eyes before opening his sister's door for her as well. Sarah laughed and he groaned to himself as he walked around to the driver's side.

They had been dancing for a while when Ginny decided she needed some water and headed over for the bar. Micah followed her.

When they were off the dance floor and at the bar, he leaned over to speak in her ear. "Just thought you should know, that guy at the end of the bar has been staring at you for the past hour."

She turned at looked at him in shock. His eyes were hard to read. They weren't amused, they weren't teasing, they were just blank. He nodded in the direction of the guy he was talking about. She turned to look.

Her mind froze as her soft brown eyes met cold steele. No. It wasn't possible. The bartender interrupted her thoughts with her water, forcing her break eye contact with the guy for a moment. When she turned back, he was gone. She looked around and saw him heading for a side door to the place.

She shoved the water bottle into Micah's hands and tried to run after the quickly disappearing young man. By the time she reached the door and looked out he had disappeared. Micah came up behind her.

"Gin? Who was that?" His voice was full of concern. He didn't like the way she had reacted.

"It…that's a guy I go to school with. What's he doing here?" She still hadn't turned away from the alley.

He put a hand on her shoulder. "I don't know. You all right?"

She let the door shut and looked at him. "Yeah," she smiled, "yeah, I'm fine." She reached for her water and he released it without letting go of her eyes.

"Why don't I believe you?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Wanna dance?" She turned back to the dance floor.

He watched her for a moment before following. He knew there was more to that boy than she wanted to let on. He didn't know whether it was an ex-boyfriend or what, but there was tension and unpleasantness there and he didn't like it. She was worried about something, and he wanted to know what. He didn't ask anymore questions, though, he knew better than that.

About 2:30 they left the club and started walking back to their car. They had parked three blocks away in order to park free and relatively safe.

They were joking and laughing as they walked. Ginny and Sarah started chasing each other around and Micah watched them in amusement when Ginny froze. She was staring in the window of an all night diner. There, sitting at the counter, was the guy from the club.

"Gin…do you want to go in?" Micah asked carefully.

"What? Who is that? What's going on?" Sarah looked back and forth between her friend and brother in confusion.

"No…no. I shouldn't." Ginny answered absently.

"Then you _do_ want to." Micah observed.

Sarah was thoroughly confused.

Ginny sighed. "Yeah, I guess I do, but I can't. We aren't friends. I just…know him, kind of. I want to know what he's doing here, but…I have no right to ask. He ran away from me, remember?"

"Yeah," Micah said softly, looking at the blonde head in the diner, "yeah, I guess he did."

Ginny started walking again and Micah followed her.

Sarah whined before catching up with them. "What's going on? What did I miss?"

Micah told her what had happened at the club.

"OH!" she said, sobering instantly.

Ginny rolled her eyes.

They went clubbing again a week later. Micah looked pretty much the same, but his shirt was more of a mercury than black and he wore black jeans instead of blue. Ginny wore a little black dress that was a little short for her comfort, but Micah had assured it was fine and looked wonderful. It had a low back and v-cut neckline. Again, she pulled her hair half-up and wore the hoop earrings. Sarah wore a red tank top and black mini-skirt.

While getting some water, Sarah started talking to a guy with black spiked hair and hazel eyes. He asked her dance and she said yes. When she passed off the water to Ginny, the young man looked at her quizzically. Ginny met his gaze for a moment and could have sworn she had seen him before, but Sarah had dragged him off to the dance floor before she could place him.

Shrugging her shoulders, she took a sip of water and pulled Micah out to dance again.

After a while, the guy Sarah was dancing with looked toward the bar and stopped dancing. Saying something in Sarah's ear, he walked off. Sarah nodded and made her way over to Ginny and Micah.

"Hey, guys!" she shouted over the music, "Blaise and I are hungry! We want to go get something to eat! He's getting his friend now and they're going to meet us at the door! Let's go!" She didn't actually ask, but that was nothing new for her. She started making her way toward the door.

Ginny had gone dead at the name and Micah had noticed.

"What is it now?" he asked in her ear.

She didn't answer at first, but after a second she turned to look at him. "We're going to eat with Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy!" Her eyes were clouded over and she looked like she was in shock.

Micah stared at her in disbelief. "_The_ Draco Malfoy?" he asked. He had read her letters after all. "_He_'s the blonde from last week?"

She nodded.

He groaned and started steering her toward the door. There really wasn't anything for it. Sarah had already agreed to go. Things might fall apart at the door, but they had to get at least that far.

When Blaise reached the bar, he stood next to Draco and shouted, "What's with you? You've been standing here glaring at the dance floor all night!"

Draco turned his eyes on his friend, intensifying his glare. "What's it to you?"

Blaise rolled his eyes. "Nothing! Look, we're going out to eat with this girl and her friends, so let's go!" He started to turn, but Draco stopped him.

"What! You've lost your mind!"

"What are you on about! I just picked up a girl!" Blaise was confused.

"Yeah! And the friend we're now eating with is Ginevra Weasley!"

Blaise's face paled. He recovered quickly, though. "So? I really like this girl and we're going! Move!" He grabbed Draco's shirt sleeve and pulled him toward the door.

Draco forced him to let go but still followed.

When the reached the door and stepped outside, the others were already waiting for them. Sarah looked confused, Micah looked worried, and Ginny looked mortified. Blaise scratched the back of his head as he stepped out. "Hey, Love. I don't know if you caught my name in there with all the noise, but I'm Blaise Zabini and this," he indicated the sulking figure behind him, "is Draco Malfoy."

Sarah's eyes went wide and she gulped. She looked at Ginny apologetically.

Knowing that Sarah wouldn't recover her voice for a minute, Ginny rolled her eyes and stepped up. "Hey, I'm Ginevra Weasley and this is Sarah's brother, Micah Jones." It was the most polite way she could come up with to cover for Sarah's shock. She hadn't actually introduced the guy to the girl he had been dancing with for hours, but she had supplied the name in case he hadn't caught it earlier.

Blaise bowed to her. "I really didn't recognize you in there…" he started to explain.

"I know, I didn't recognize you either until Sarah mentioned your first name." She turned to Draco, "Look, if you'd rather not…" she started to excuse him, but he interrupted her.

"We aren't at school, Weasley. I've got no better place to go and Blaise is set on going out to eat with you folks so I'll tag along, unless it will make you uncomfortable."

He had offered her a way out? She couldn't believe that he would leave if it made her uncomfortable. "No! I mean, if you want to come, come."

"Great. Now that that's settled, where are we going?" Draco demanded a bit brusquely.

"There's a great diner down the street," Blaise offered.

Draco caught the look that crossed Ginny's face at the mention of the diner. So she had seen him there last week as well. This was certainly going to be an interesting evening.

They started walking down the street. Blaise and Sarah led the way, talking animatedly. He made her laugh about every five seconds. Behind them, Ginny ended up between Micah and Draco. They walked in rather uncomfortable silence. Every now and then, Ginny would look at Draco and open her mouth, but he would look at her and she would close it, or he would take a breath to say something and she would look at him and he would shake his head.

Halfway there, Micah put his arm around Ginny's shoulders protectively. Draco assumed they were together. They way Micah had looked at him last week and the way he was looking at him now led to no other assumption than that he fancied Ginny and viewed _him_ as a threat. From the way Ginny leaned into Micah, Draco figured she fancied _him_ as well. It made sense, after all. They had been dancing together all night, twice. So why did it bother him? Why did it feel wrong?

They slid into a booth in the diner in much the same order as they had been walking. Blaise and Sarah sat across from Ginny sandwiched between the two boys. Draco was next to the window.


	3. Questions

Blaise and Sarah easily involved the others in their conversation and the tension soon melted away, at least on the surface. They stayed at the diner until four and then Micah went and got the car, pulling it around for the others.

Draco and Blaise had apparated so they didn't have a vehicle of their own to retrieve and when Sarah impulsively asked them over so they could continue hanging out, they agreed easily enough. Ginny rode up front next to Micah and Sarah sat in the back between the other boys.

Draco watched those in the front all the way to the house. Micah kept shooting glances over at Ginny. Ginny stared out the window the entire way. At one point, Micah reached out and put his hand on her arm. She looked over at him and gave a weak smile before turning back to the window but extended her arm a little and Micah took her hand. That cemented it for him. They were together.

Sarah saw the gesture as well and indulged in a slightly disappointed sigh. Sure, Micah was holding Ginny's hand, but their fingers weren't laced. He was holding all of her fingers in his. In other words, he was holding Ginny's hand the way he held _her_ hand when he was worried about her. Micah had apparently adopted Ginny as a second little sister. Oh well, that was why she had waited before deciding whether or not to get them together, wasn't it? She returned to her conversation with Blaise.

They were all sitting on the back porch a couple of hours later, watching the sun rise in silence. Blaise was leaning up against a post and Sarah was leaning up against him. Draco was sitting sideways on the steps leaning against the railing. Micah was on the porch swing. Ginny was sitting on the railing, back against a post, and her legs stretched out on the rail in front of her.

That made Draco reconsider his appraisal of her relationship with Micah. If they were together, why wasn't she sitting with him? Maybe they were flirting with the _idea_ of dating?

They heard stirrings inside and it wasn't long before they heard someone calling Micah inside. He mumbled something about talking to his mother and disappeared inside.

A minute or two later, Blaise asked Sarah if she wanted to go for a walk. She smiled, yawned, and agreed. He looked back at Draco as they were walking away and winked. As they walked, he interlaced his fingers with Sarah's and she looked up at him in surprise and beamed.

Draco groaned and Ginny couldn't help but laugh. "What do you think he expects to happen?" she asked.

"I haven't the foggiest," Draco grumbled, glaring darkly after his friend. "I suppose he's hoping I'll explain why we're here."

She climbed down from her perch and joined him on the steps. "Why would he want that?"

He sighed. "I'm guessing that he thinks the fact that you were willing to spend the night with us is a good sign and believes that you'll actually listen. I'd agree with him that far, but the only reason for me to _talk_ is in the interest of making _friends_. He doesn't seem to think I have enough of those."

She shrugged. "Do you?"

"Is one enough?" he asked sullenly.

"I don't know. Everyone has different needs."

He looked at her like she was insane. "Why _did_ you put up with us tonight?"

She settled back against the post Blaise had abandoned. "I had no reason not to."

"You don't call years of torture adequate reason?" He couldn't believe this girl.

She laughed. "I don't know. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that you ran from me last week. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that you actually came outside when I was sure you must have noticed who he was dancing with."

"I did _not_ run from you last week," he protested. She raised her eyebrows. He growled. "I no longer felt like being there, that is not running away."

"It is if I was the reason you no longer felt like being there," she countered.

"You looked like I had scared you." He lowered his eyes from hers.

"Micah had just told me that you had been watching me for some time. I didn't really know what to think. I was caught off guard," she explained.

He yawned. "Yeah, I guess I can understand that."

"Why were you watching me?" she asked through a yawn of her own.

He looked up at her as though he thought it was a stupid question, "You caught _me_ off guard! We came here because no one would know us and there you were on the dance floor! Besides," he added sheepishly, looking down again, "you were mesmerizing."

She blushed. "Oh."

"You saw me in the diner later that night, didn't you?" he didn't know why it mattered, but he asked anyway.

She nodded.

"Why didn't you come in?"

She looked confused. "You had just run away from me, remember? Not to mention the years of torment. I kind of figured the last thing you would want would be me asking you what the hell you are doing here."

He laughed. "You have a point there, I suppose."

She rolled her eyes.

"So what the hell _are _you doing here?" she asked playfully.

"I told you, because we thought no one would know us here."

"Oh!" she answered sarcastically, "Of course!"

"What are _you_ doing here?" he asked.

"Sarah is a pen pal of mine and my parents decided they wanted me somewhere safer than home this summer." Her tone was bitter.

"You didn't want to stay home did you?" he asked incredulously.

She looked at him like he had lost his mind. "Of course I did! I don't like being treated like a china doll! I can take care of myself and I want to help!"

His eyebrows shot up. He recalled the bat bogey hex she had given him and then nodded. "Yeah, I guess you can at that. Should have known you would want to get yourself killed, sorry I asked."

She glowered at him. "I don't want to get myself killed, I just want to fight for what I believe in. There _is_ a difference, you know."

He groaned again and leaned his head back. "Yes, I suppose there is, but you have to remember, believing in something that much is a foreign concept to me."

She sighed. "I know, and I've always wondered what would happen if you ever found something to care that deeply about."

He looked up at her in surprise. "You have?"

She blushed again and looked sheepish. "Well…yeah. I guess I just wondered if you would insult my family so much if you understood what we meant to each other, if you would want to hurt me so much just to get to Ron and Harry if you had a sister or friend that someone could get to _you_ just by torturing. I guess I wondered if you would make fun of our ideals so much if you had some of your own." She was talking to the steps at her feet.

He sat back hard. "Huh." He studied her for a while. "I always thought you just hated me, saw me as a soulless Slytherin."

She looked up at him with concern filling her eyes. "The others might have, and I might have done so at first, but after my first year, well, I guess I started looking at _everyone_ as a whole person. I mean," she looked back down, "if I could see _Tom_ as a real person, you were pretty easy to recognize as human."

He rubbed his chin. He recalled her first year pretty easily. He had gotten the details of what had happened from his father. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Thanks."

She shrugged.


	4. Answers

"I ran away from home." His statement was so flat and so sudden she wasn't sure she had heard him correctly.

"I'm sorry?" she asked.

"I ran away from Lucius. I had no desire to become a death eater. I don't believe in his cause any more than I believe in anyone else's. Anyway, Blaise's family summered here once and he was pretty sure that with a couple of fake ID's we'd be able to get a place fairly easily. We both stole as much money as possible from our parents, which is a fair amount, mind, and came out here. We set up bank accounts, got an apartment, and settled in." He shrugged. "I assume we'll have to get jobs soon. That or enroll in a muggle college and learn one of _their_ trades." He cocked his head in thought. "That would probably be a better idea, actually. It would make it even harder for dear old Dad to find us."

Ginny smiled. She didn't really know why.

"What are you smiling at?" he tried to ask accusingly, but he had a smile on his own face.

"I don't know. It just makes me smile to know that Lucius isn't controlling your life anymore."

His smile broadened, "Yeah, it makes me smile as well."

She yawned. "Hm. What time is it?" she asked, looking at the sky.

He checked his watch. "Huh! It's six ten."

She yawned again.

He chuckled but then yawned himself.

"Hah! Teach you to laugh at me!" she taunted.

He couldn't help it. On impulse, he reached over and started tickling her.

She squealed and started squirming to get away from him, but he had her pinned up against the rail. He had scooted over so that he was sitting right next to her and was leaning in so she didn't really have anywhere to go. As she struggled against him, he slid down a little so that one knee was on the step below them and he was facing her more directly. In order to restrict her movements even more, and support himself, he slipped an arm by her side and propped himself up against the rail behind her.

When she started having serious trouble breathing, he stopped, but couldn't move. He just sat there, looking down at her. As she caught her breath she caught his eyes. Something in his eyes caused her to grow more serious. She noticed that he was still practically on top of her, but she was far from objecting. His eyes darted down to her mouth and back. Subconsciously, she licked her lips.

He cleared his throat and pushed himself back and off of her, returning to his former seat and running his hands through his hair. She took a deep breath and resituated.

He looked back toward the door. "I wonder if your boyfriend is ever going to come back out or if he fell asleep in there." He knew it wasn't the subtlest thing he had ever said, but the last thing he wanted to do was to get involved with someone else's girl. He clenched his jaw when he realized what he was doing. He had finally figured out why the idea of her being with Micah bothered him, though. As he had watched her dance that first night he had been attracted to her like he would any other girl. When she didn't refuse to associate with him he had been intrigued. Now, after hours of hanging out with her and the talk they had just had…well, she was different than anyone he had ever met.

She looked at him in shock for a moment before she started laughing. "I'm sorry! It just…Micah's the big brother I always wished Ron would be!" She was having trouble breathing again. "He reminds me too much of Bill to gather much interest in him any other way." She bent down over her knees. Gasping out between breaths, she continued. "I'm sorry! It really isn't this funny! And it makes perfect sense for you to assume…"

He started laughing as well. "Sleep deprivation got you giddy?" he asked.

She nodded helplessly.

That was what Micah returned to. Ginny was sitting there, doubled over, clutching a stitch in her side and Draco was lying on his back with his hands on his stomach chuckling.

Micah looked down at the blonde in amusement. "What has her in hysterics?"

"A severe lack of sleep, I believe."

"Huh! Well, I suppose we can fix that easily enough." Micah started chuckling himself before sitting down beside Ginny and wrapping his arm around her.

She leaned into him before realizing her mistake. He started tickling her.

She screamed. "No!…Wait!…Draco!…Help!" she managed to gasp out.

Draco, ever a man to aid a damsel in distress, scooted over behind the wrestling pair and started tickling her from behind.

"BETRAYEL!" she yelled.

"You…just asked…me…to help!" Draco said. "You never…specified who!"

Micah barked out a laugh.

Blaise and Sarah walked up just then, and sensing that her friend was in trouble, Sarah dove for Micah, tickling him just under the ribs. He jerked back with a yell and stopped tickling Ginny, turning his attention to his sister.

Taking her cue from Sarah, Ginny turned around and decided to find out if Draco was ticklish. He was. Blaise jumped out of the way when the siblings tumbled off of the steps and started rolling around on the ground. He just laughed, not wanting to get killed, and stayed out of it.

He was highly amused, though, to see Draco and Ginny wrestling. He shook his head and climbed over them to sit on the swing.

After a moment, Draco and Ginny fell still with him lying on top of her, legs to one side but propped up on elbows that pinned both of her arms to her side. Smirking, he said a bit huskily and out of breath, "Looks like I win."

She smirked back. "Oh? And what do you win?" Her eyes went wide when his eyes once again darted down to her mouth.

She squeaked when she felt his lips on hers, but almost immediately shut her eyes and relaxed into the kiss. When he lifted his head, she sighed contentedly. Without opening her eyes, she asked, "Are you sure _you_ won?"

He chuckled and rolled off of her.

Blaise wisely pretended not to have seen what had transpired. "Hey, do you suppose we should separate them?" He nodded toward the still wrestling siblings.

Ginny sat up and chuckled. "No, not unless you want to be dragged into it!"

Draco sat up and moved so that his back was against the wall to the house. Ginny scooted next to him and leaned up against his shoulder with a yawn.

Glancing up from where he was torturing his sister, Micah eyed Ginny. "Hey!" he managed to say through the struggle, "I thought you two were supposed to be enemies!" He said it with a smile and the teasing tone was enough to remove any offense the words might have carried on their own.

Draco looked down at the redhead on his shoulder. "Yeah, but she's just so _hot!_"

Ginny rolled her eyes and landed a rather soft punch in his side. "Shut up!"

"Well, it's true!" he said defensively. He sighed dramatically, "And there is that whole 'you let me be myself' thing."

She giggled. How her mortal enemy had become…well, she wasn't sure what he was, but he wasn't an enemy anymore… in one night, albeit a long one, she had no idea, but she was happy.

"What do you say we go putt putt?" Blaise suggested suddenly.

Sarah stopped trying to tickle her brother and sat up confused. "Putt putt? We've been up all night!"

"Precisely!" Blaise said with a spark in his eyes. "I bet I can last the longest," he said smugly.

"Yeah, well, Red here will be out first, I bet." Malfoy pinched Ginny's side as he teased her.

She huffed in indignation. "I'll outlast _you_ anyway!"

"Than the challenge is on!" Micah declared as he stood and helped his sister to her feet. "First order of business, we eat! Come, the only breakfast fitting for such a day is the traditional Jones Mania." He began marching inside.

The three present who were _not_ Jones' look from him to Sarah and noticed the glint that had entered her eyes.

"What, pray tell, is Jones Mania?" Ginny asked suspiciously.

Sarah giggled. "It is a creation of Micah, Sam, and Jake. Anyone of them can make it on their own, but it really is best when they work together. It includes griddlecake riddles, eggs Benedict Arnold, potato hash smash, all to be washed down by breakfast suicides."

The others looked at each other nervously.

"Oh don't worry! It's all good!" she looked at the sky thoughtfully, "surprisingly, but good nonetheless." She shrugged and followed her brother inside. "I'm going to take a shower while he fixes it. Girls aren't allowed to help."

Ginny stretched and Draco stood up before offering his hand and helping her stand as well.

"Does that mean _we're_ supposed to?" he asked.

Sarah shrugged again. "I guess you can if you want. I just know I'm not even allowed in the kitchen while they make it and that was always the excuse."

"Well, I'm going to take a shower as well," Ginny said. "You boys have fun whatever you do." She impulsively went to tip toe and kissed Draco on the cheek. She blushed as she lowered herself back down and hurried inside.

"What was that?" The boys heard Sarah fail to whisper to Ginny as they ascended the stairs.

"I don't know," Ginny answered after they really were out of ear shot. "He kissed me after he got me pinned when we were wrestling and then the comments he made to your brother…I don't know what's going on, but I like it!" She was grinning from ear to ear.

Sarah giggled.

"So, what's up with you and Blaise?" Ginny asked.

Sarah blushed. "The same, I guess. I mean, _we_ just met," she said meaningfully, "but he held my hand while we walked. He's a real gentleman, you know? These blokes don't seem anything like the way you described Slytherin in your letter."

"No," Ginny said thoughtfully, "they really don't. I guess they were just keeping up appearances for their parents and fulfilling the expectations of those around them who wouldn't let them be anything _but_ gits."

"I guess that's what he meant when he said you let him be himself?" Sarah concluded.

"Yeah, it was." By then they had gathered their things and split up to the two bathrooms on that floor.

When Ginny entered the kitchen the boys were all sitting around the table waiting for the girls to come down so they could finish off the breakfast preparations. Some of the food had to be served hot and therefore prepared right before it was served.

At the sound of her footsteps, they all looked up. Micah smiled, Blaise smirked, and Draco gulped. She was wearing low slung distressed jeans with a couple flower patches sewn on randomly and a green baby-t with a sleeping dragon curled up on her chest. It didn't reach her navel, and while it fit the shoulders perfectly, the hem was loose around her midriff. A silver belt, graffiti converse, and her hoop earrings finished off her outfit. Her waist length red hair hung loose and was still wet from her shower.

She smiled shyly when they all just stared at her. "Sarah will be down in a minute. She insists on drying her hair." She shrugged to accent her lame explanation before sliding into the chair next to Draco a bit self-consciously.

Micah cleared his throat and the boys returned to their debate about Quidditch teams which Ginny joined enthusiastically until Sarah came down and the boys jumped up and finished the last bit of the meal.

It turned out that griddlecake riddles was a game as well as food. The first person to recognize the secret ingredient won the right to mix their own suicide of breakfast drinks. Everyone else had to let someone else prepare theirs for them. If anyone successfully identified every beverage added to their suicide they were given the option of drinking an unmixed drink.

Eggs Benedict Arnold had absolutely no eggs in them. That was why they were named after a famous traitor, apparently. They were actually biscuits and gravy. Okay, they were _cookies_ covered in _pudding_.

Potato mash smash was revealed to be hash browns with bacon, sausage, and ham cubes all mixed in served with either melted cheese or real gravy covering it all. You had to choose cheese or gravy, you weren't allowed to eat it without either.


	5. Changes

After breakfast, they went Putt Putting. Sarah won and gloated until Blaise kissed her to shut her up. She just smiled like a Cheshire cat for ten minutes after that.

From there they went bowling and played five games. Ginny won three of the games, Micah won one, and Draco won the last. They snacked the whole time they bowled, but when the left the alley they went to lunch.

Sarah fell asleep on Blaise's shoulder while they were waiting for their orders and pouted when Micah teased her for being the first one out.

When they were done eating, they boys decided they needed to make the challenge a little more difficult. Activity was sure to keep them all awake indefinitely. They decided to go see a movie.

Unfortunately for Micah, this was a bit counterproductive for his part. The cinema was a first for the three Europeans and they were wide awake taking it all in. He fell asleep not long after his sister and got at least an hour's sleep, probably more.

Running out of ideas _and_ energy, the group returned to the house and the Jones' decided that a nice Firefly marathon was called for. Both already eliminated, they fell asleep before the first episode was well under way.

Just before Blaise was about to wake Micah up to ask him how to change disks, he looked over at his competition who had both been awake ten minutes ago and found them sound asleep curled up next to each other. He smiled, turned the TV off, or at least he hoped he did, and snuggled closer to Sarah and went to sleep himself. It was almost six p.m.

Mrs. Jones got home at six thirty to find five teenagers asleep in her living room. She just laughed to herself, turned off the DVD player, Blaise had only turned off one appliance, and went to make herself dinner.

It wasn't until the next morning when she was making noise in the kitchen as she prepared her breakfast that anyone in the living room stirred. Micah woke up to the smell of coffee with a contented sigh. He sat up, blinked a few times, looked around, and started laughing. He got up and went into the kitchen.

Ginny woke up shortly there after and stretched lazily. Feeling someone against she rolled over and smiled when she saw Draco. Careful not to disturb him, she got up and went into the kitchen.

She stopped short. "Oh!" she said when she saw Mrs. Jones.

"Hello dear!" Mrs. Jones stood and greeted the girl. "I'm so sorry we haven't had a chance to meet until now. I hope you slept well?" she asked with a grin.

"Oh! Um, yes, thank you." Ginny really didn't know what to say. She would have been mortified had _her_ mother found her asleep curled up next to a guy like she had been.

"Good!" Mrs. Jones looked at her watch. "Oh!" she sounded disappointed. "I do wish I could stay and get to know you, but I really have to get to work!" She grabbed her brief case and travel mug of coffee. "Say hello to that blonde for me," she winked at Ginny and the poor girl was paralyzed with confusion.

Once his mom had left, Micah chuckled. "Catch ya off guard, did she?"

"I…my mum would have _fried_ me for falling asleep like that!"

He laughed. "Yeah, well, when you trust you kids to take care of themselves without seeing you for weeks on end, I figure you just expect stuff like that."

She cocked her head curiously but shrugged, conceding that he was probably right.

"Besides, yesterday when she called me inside I gave her a pretty basic run down of who those blokes are. Leaving out the part where Sarah picked up Blaise in a club, of course. Oh! And the part where they used to be your enemies." She eyed him accusingly. "Okay, so I told her they were old friends of yours and that you trusted them and that they had proven themselves to be complete gentlemen so far. Which they had," he hastened to add.

She rolled her eyes and poured herself a cup of coffee.

"So, what's goin' on with Draco?" he asked suggestively as she sat down.

She shot a withering glare that said it was none of his business, something akin to the looks she used to give Ron and the twins, but answered him anyway. "Just before I fell asleep yesterday I heard him whisper in my ear 'So, does this mean you're mine?'" She shrugged. "I nodded, so I guess we're together."

He laughed again. "Good for you!" He took a sip of his own coffee. "How do you think your family will take it?"

She grimaced and groaned. "Horribly." She thought for a moment and shrugged. "Not that I really care, that is. I mean, I'd love it if they'd approve, but it won't really change how I feel if they don't."

He smiled with respect. "Again, good for you."

"Yeah," she said in a sigh. "Maybe I just won't go home. Maybe I'll just transfer to Sarah's school."

He leveled her with a critical gaze. "What happened to fighting for what you believe?"

She looked at him seriously. "That's what remaining here would be, fighting for Draco. Look, they won't let me fight. The fact that they sent me here for the summer is proof enough of that. If I go back I'll just sit at the school feeling useless. If I stay here I can help Draco establish a life for himself. I can help him learn to love life. I've never seen him like this before, and from the way Blaise has been watching us, neither has he. Staying with him will be my way of standing against prejudice and hate."

He held her gaze for a moment before smiling again. "You really are amazing, you know that?"

She cocked her head and smirked arrogantly, "I try!"

He threw a crumpled napkin at her, but it didn't reach her. She laughed and stuck her tongue out at him. He rolled his eyes.

The others trickled in over the course of an hour. Before long they were laughing and joking and making plans for the day.


End file.
